Blog post. Back in the 1960s, Nobel-prize winning research shook our understanding of what it means to be a conscious entity. Epilepsy patients who’d had the thick bundle of nerves connecting their two brain hemispheres either severed or removed (as a drastic treatment for their epilepsy) responded in laboratory tasks as if they had two separate minds.
It’s an unsettling idea that has appeared in psychology textbooks for decades. But dig into the original studies and you’ll find the evidence for split brains leading to split minds was mostly descriptive. Now a team of researchers led by Yair Pinto at the University of Amsterdam has conducted systematic testing of two split-brain patients over several years, specifically to find out whether the division of their brains has also separated their consciousness. In fact, the results, published recently in the journal Brain, suggest their consciousness remains unified. It may be time to rewrite the textbooks.
Question Is uncomplicated childhood-onset epilepsy associated with increased brain amyloid accumulation?
Findings In this population-based case-control study of Finnish adults who had childhood epilepsy and were followed up prospectively for more than 50 years from their disease onset and a group of matched controls, individuals with childhood-onset epilepsy, and particularly APOE ε4 carriers, had an increased brain amyloid load as measured with positron emission tomography at late middle age.
Meaning Childhood-onset epilepsy is linked with a biomarker that might be associated with accelerated brain aging and can be considered as a neurobiological predisposition to later-life cognitive disorders. Please contact the library to request a copy of this article - http://bit.ly/1Xyazai
The aim of this meta-analysis was to evaluate and synthesise the available evidence from the previous 20 years regarding the utility of psychological interventions in the management of psychogenic non-epileptic seizures (PNES). To read the full article, log in using your NHS OpenAthens details.
An observational study identified living people with epilepsy who matched (by age and geographical region) adolescents and adults with a postmortem diagnosis of sudden unexpected death in epilepsy (SUDEP). Use of an intervention to prevent SUDEP was determined for each participant who died (before entry into the study or subsequently). Fewer people died when an intervention to reduce SUDEP was employed (on average, 213 fewer deaths per 1000 people with nocturnal supervision and 184 fewer deaths per 1000 people with special precautions). However, data were available for only 367 of the 616 live participants recruited, and evidence was of very low quality, making firm conclusions impossible.
Research News. A cannabis based drug has shown encouraging results in treating a form of epilepsy unresponsive to existing drugs.
Children with Dravet syndrome, a rare and catastrophic form of epilepsy, may experience many seizures a day. The condition, caused in most cases by a known genetic mutation affecting sodium channels in the brain, occurs in one child in 40 000 and leads to developmental damage and long term learning difficulties. Children affected require lifelong care.
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Complementary non-pharmacological approaches, such as aerobic exercise, have been evaluated for over two decades. The heterogeneity of the interventions and outcomes used hinders the interpretation of the effect of exercise in PD.1 Several systematic reviews and meta-analyses have pooled the results, but their conclusions depend greatly on the diversity of the included exercise modalities. .....To read the full article, log in using your NHS OpenAthens details.
Objective: To determine feasibility of a randomised controlled trial (RCT) of home-based Reach-to- Grasp training after stroke.
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Objective: To explore the factors perceived to affect rehabilitation assessment and referral practices for patients with stroke. To read the full article, log in using your SSSFT NHS OpenAthens details
Behavioural changes associated with epilepsy can be challenging for patients and clinicians. Evidence suggests an association between aggression and epilepsy that involves various neurophysiological and neurochemical disturbances. Anti-epileptics have variable effects on behaviour and cognition that need consideration. Early detection and careful consideration of history, symptomatology and possible common comorbid psychiatric disorders is essential. Appropriate investigations should be considered to aid diagnosis, including electroencephalogram (EEG), video EEG telemetry and brain imaging. Optimising treatment of epilepsy, treatment of psychiatric comorbidities and behavioural management can have a major positive effect on patients’ recovery and well-being. To read the full article, log in using your NHS OpenAthens details.
Neuropsychiatric signs and symptoms occur frequently in individuals with multiple sclerosis (MS), either as the initial presenting complaint prior to a definitive neurological diagnosis or more commonly with disease progression. However, the pathogenesis of these comorbid conditions remains unclear and it remains difficult to accurately elucidate if neuropsychiatric symptoms or conditions are indicators of MS illness severity. Furthermore, both the disease process and the treatments of MS can adversely impact an individual’s mental health. In this review, we discuss the common neuropsychiatric syndromes that occur in MS and describe the clinical symptoms, aetiology, neuroimaging findings and management strategies for these conditions. To read the full article, log in using your NHS OpenAthens details.
This study examines the association of time of onset of autonomic dysfunction with disease progression and survival in Parkinson disease. Please contact the library to request a copy of this article - http://bit.ly/1Xyazai
This population-based cohort study examines the outcomes of epilepsy and use of antiepileptic drugs during pregnancy in women and infants. Please contact the library to request a copy of this article - http://bit.ly/1Xyazai
Neuropsychology31.6 (Sep 2017): 585-595.
Objective: Emotional and cognitive disturbances are common complications in Parkinson’s disease (PD). N400 is an event related potential (ERP) strongly linked to lexical-semantic processing and has demonstrated alterations in amplitude and latency when PD patients performed semantic priming tasks. The present study investigated the role of N400 in an automatic affective priming paradigm in PD. Other ERP components relevant to emotion processing were also examined. To read the full article, log in using your NHS OpenAthens details.
Active lifelong cognitive lifestyles increase cognitive reserve and have beneficial effects on global cognition, cognitive decline and dementia risk in Parkinson's disease (PD). Executive function is particularly impaired even in early PD, and this impacts on quality of life. The effects of lifelong cognitive lifestyle on executive function in PD have not been studied previously. This study examined the association between lifelong cognitive lifestyle, as a proxy measure of cognitive reserve, and executive function in people with PD. Login using your SSSFT NHS OpenAthens for full text. SSOTP - You can request a copy of this article by replying to this email. Please ensure you are clear which article you are requesting.
Mild cognitive impairment (MCI) is common in early Parkinson's disease (PD). We evaluated the stability of PD-MCI over time to determine its clinical utility as a marker of disease. To read the full article, log in using your NHS OpenAthens details.
A pioneering team that developed an app allowing people with epilepsy to monitor their own condition and health risk, has been shortlisted for a prestigious British Medical Journal (BMJ) Award in the Innovation Team category. The BMJ Award is one of the highest honours available within the medical and healthcare professions.
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Editorial commentary. In their JNNP paper, Gooneratna et al1 review long-term studies of three surgical therapies for pharmacoresistant focal epilepsy: vagal nerve stimulation, which provides the most evidence, anterior thalamic nucleus deep brain stimulation (ANT DBS) and cortical responsive stimulation (CRS). Written for the generalist, the review describes the three technologies in detail. The multiple layers of information gathered inform the generalist of how complex treatment decisions can be. As medical intractability can be predicted early, typically after failure of a second drug or the presence of abnormal imaging, this serves as a reminder that such patients should be considered for early referral to a specialist multidisciplinary …To read the full article, log in using your NHS OpenAthens details.